Composite door constructions are known in which a plastisol skin cover is foamed with respect to a substrate which forms the structural support for the door construction. Such composites are typically manufactured by apparatus and methods which include use of a mold cavity having a lid which is opened and closed with respect to the mold cavity to enable a preformed plastisol skin to be supported in the mold cavity. Foam precursors are then placed on the skin cover and the lid is closed to support the substrate with respect to the cover to form a foam space therebetween into which the foam precursors flow and react to form a foam layer between the cover and the substrate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,303,720; 4,420,447 and 4,447,504 disclose processes and apparatus for forming a panel construction in which a substrate is supported on a mold lid for a mold cavity in which the plastisol skin cover is supported for foaming and wherein the insert is bonded to the skin by the foam for providing structural support.
While suitable for their intended purpose such processes do not provide for formation of dielocked features in the skin cover of the composite structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,856 discloses one approach to reinforcing die-locked (i.e. a portion of a molded product which cannot be directly lifted from a female mold cavity until a portion of the mold apparatus is removed from the molded product) feature on an instrument panel cluster portion of a composite panel in an instrument panel construction. However, it does not provide a method for centering a substrate extension in a die-locked pocket.
The aforesaid processes and apparatus for performing the processes do not provide for centering and foaming of substrate or insert structures within die-locked features of a vinyl skin covering on a composite structure.